SCIO briefing on 7th plenary session of 18th CCDI

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Speakers:
Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), Xiao Pei, vice minister of the Ministry of Supervision, Liu Jianchao, deputy director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention and director of the CCDI's International Cooperation Bureau, Luo Dongchuan, director of the CCDI's Case Revision Office, and Zhu Guoxian, chief of the CCDI's Publicity Department.

Chairperson:
Guo Weimin, vice minister of State Council Information Office

Date:
Jan. 9, 2017

Guo Weimin:

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to the press conference held by the State Council Information Office. The Seventh Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) concluded yesterday. The conference made crucial arrangement for deepening the work of "comprehensively and strictly governing the Party," which has attracted widespread attention. We have invited officials of the CCDI to explain the spirit of the conference and answer your questions. They include Wu Yuliang, deputy secretary of the CCDI, Xiao Pei, vice minister of the Ministry of Supervision, Liu Jianchao, deputy director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention and director of the CCDI's International Cooperation Bureau, Luo Dongchuan, director of the CCDI's Case Revision Office, and Zhu Guoxian, chief of the CCDI's Publicity Department. Now, please welcome Mr. Wu Yuliang to open the proceedings.

Wu Yuliang:

Friends and journalists, good afternoon. Welcome to today's press conference. I'm delighted to share with you related information. The Seventh Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) concluded yesterday, with all the agenda items accomplished. The General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping delivered an important speech that summarized the achievements of the past four years on comprehensively and strictly governing the Party, building a Party work style and clean government and promoting the anti-corruption course. He also analyzed the current severe and complicated situation and identified the general requirements and major missions for us in present and future periods. Wang Qishan delivered a work report on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CCDI, in which he summarized the Party discipline inspection work in 2016 and outlined the arrangements for the tasks in 2017. He also gave explanations to the conference on the "Regulations on Supervision and Discipline Enforcement of CPC Discipline Inspection Agencies (Trial)."

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CCDI has filed investigation cases against a total of 240 officials directly appointed by the Organization Department of the CPC (usually officials at the ministerial level or above), 223 of whom have already received disciplinary punishment. Discipline inspection authorities across the country filed 1.162 million cases and imposed disciplinary sanctions against 1.199 million people. A total of 1.143 million Party members and officials at the section-chief level have been punished, and a total of 554,000 Party members and officials at the village level have been punished as well. A total of 2,566 fugitives have been brought back from overseas since 2014. A total of 37 people on the Interpol Red-Notice List were arrested, with 8.64 billion yuan reclaimed.

According to data of the National Bureau of Statistics, public satisfaction with the work of building the Party style and anti-corruption before the 18th CPC National Congress stood at 75 percent. The figure climbed to 81 percent in 2013, 88.4 percent in 2014, 91.5 percent in 2015 and 92.9 percent in 2016. This proves that people are satisfied with the work of compressively and strictly governing the Party, which, in turn, has cemented the political foundations of Party governance. We must continue with our work firmly.

The principal task of this year's Party work is to prepare for the 19th CPC National Congress. The general requirements are: Thoroughly implementing the spirit of the 18th CPC National Congress and the third, fourth, fifth and sixth plenary sessions of the 18th CPC National Congress, and implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches. We should also promote the overall plan for economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress and the strategy of the "Four Comprehensives" (comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, comprehensively deepening reform, comprehensively implementing the rule of law, and comprehensively strengthening Party discipline).We will also continue to uphold the authority of the CPC Central Committee with General Secretary Xi Jinping as the core, strengthen discipline in intra-Party political life, reinforce supervision within the Party, and deal with problems at both the root and symptom-based levels. We will also deepen the reform of the national supervision system, strengthen accountability of supervision and enforcement, and continue to rectify the four undesirable work styles (formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance). We will also keep cracking down on corruption, safeguard the intra-Party "political ecology," and facilitate the work of comprehensively and strictly governing the Party to go deeper.

The CCDI pays close attention to its own disciplinary work. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, it has talked or written to 218 officials, adjusted the posts of 21 officials and filed cases against 17 people. The disciplinary authorities across the country have dealt with 5,800 officials, adjusted the posts of 2,500 officials and punished a total of 7,900 people.

This is my brief introduction, thank you all.


 

Guo Weimin: Thanks Mr. Wu. Now you may start to ask your questions.

CCTV:

As we know, the seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has deliberated and passed Regulations on Supervision and Discipline Enforcement of CPC Discipline Inspection Agencies (Trial). May I ask Mr. Wu why such regulations were made? Is it to prevent corruption in the discipline department? And the second question is why such regulations were put into such a high-level plenary session to be passed? Thank you.

Wu Yuliang:

The goal to make such regulations, just like the title of the popular TV documentary series broadcast days ago, "To Forge An Iron, One Must Be Strong Oneself," is to prevent corruption in the discipline department. We especially made rules regarding the most central power of supervision and discipline enforcement of the discipline department, proposing stricter requirements and tightening restrictions in the system.

As for why we discussed and passed the regulations, they are an indication of the spirit of the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. The theme of the sixth plenary session was to comprehensively and strictly govern the Party, as it also passed Norms of Political Life Within the Party Under the New Situation and the Regulations on Supervision Within the Party. So when the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection passed the regulations this time, it indicated that the power of the commission is also strictly supervised while the officials and cadres of the department are restrained by strict discipline. It shows our determination to build a strong anti-graft army. Thank you.

Asahi Shimbun:

I'm interested in the national supervisory commission. Will the state supervisory body have the same authority as state organs such as NPC and the central government? Someone said it will surpass the authority of the government, so how should we understand the relationship between it and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection? What is the purpose of having such a government organ? What main functions will it have? Thanks.

Xiao Pei:

Deepening national supervisory system reform and starting pilot plans in Beijing, Shanxi Province and Zhejiang Province are actually the same thing. This was a significant decision and strategic deployment made by the CPC Central Committee. After the news came out, it was wholeheartedly supported by the public.

President Xi Jinping had given the national supervisory commission a very clear and accurate definition: It is China's anti-graft organ.

To establish the national supervisory commission, including setting up supervisory commissions at national, provincial, municipal and county levels, is very significant political system reform. So establishing the national supervisory commission has the significance as you referred to in the first question. The purpose of setting up pilot areas is to get experience out of trial runs. This is to answer your first question.

For the second question, you mentioned authority and purpose. The fundamental purpose in deepening national supervisory system reform is to strengthen the centralized and unified leadership for the Party in its anti-graft works and integrate the functions of anti-bribery, anti-corruption, anti-negligence and anti-duty-related-crimes together, which were scattered in the Ministry of Supervision, the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention and various prosecuting departments, in order to form a new national supervisory organ in the pilot areas. This supervision will cover all civil servants who have public power.

What's the relationship between it and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection? It operates with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Actually, it is the same crew but has two names. Its duties are to execute self-supervision on the Party and the country's government. It is the national supervisory commission's duties to supervise, to investigate and to deal with corruption. Thanks.


 

South China Morning Post:

Mr. Wu, during Wang Qishan's visit to Jiangsu last year, he mentioned discipline inspection commissions at all levels should also be under supervision of public opinion. My question is: so far, what has been done to realize this? Thank you.

Wu Yuliang:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, we have taken a series of measures to strengthen self-discipline following the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping. For instance, personnel of discipline inspection commissionsat all levels took the lead to hand in all kinds of membership cards they had accepted as gifts over time, and all those violating the eight-point rulesreceived public exposure. In addition, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the commissions at provincial, autonomous regional and municipal levels have set up supervisory organs for"house cleaning" andtaken resolute steps to ensure a trustworthy disciplinary teamis in place.

Phoenix TV:

The 19th CPC National Congress will convenelater this year and it's been said that the anti-corruption drive wouldbe eased for stability. What's your opinion about that?

Luo Dongchuan:

During the seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commissionfor Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping observed that crushing momentumagainst graft has taken shape, while the anti-corruption struggle remains serious and complex. Hence, we need to maintain the momentum to eradicate corruption, the lethal"source of pollution," follow the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and win the struggle against corruption, which is of vital importance to the ruling party. Thank you.

People's Daily:

According to thecommuniqués of the plenary sessions of the CCDI in recent years, we've noticed the descriptions about the situation regarding the anti-corruption struggle have changed from a seesaw battle to gaining crushing momentum. Now,crushing momentum has taken shape. My question is: On what grounds do we say the momentum has "taken shape?" Thank you.

Xiao Pei:

During the just-concluded seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commissionfor Discipline Inspection, General Secretary Xi Jinping said we would rather offend hundreds of corrupt officials than let 1.3 billion Chinese people down. What is this so-called crushing momentum? Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the CCDI has investigated a total of 240 centrally-administered officials, 3.6 times the figure recorded during the period of 2007-2012 (the 17th CPC National Congress was held in 2007). This especially involved handling the cases of severe violations of law and discipline committed by Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, GuoBoxiong, XuCaihou and Ling Jihua. We seriously investigated and punished political and economic corruption intermingled with benefit transmission and eliminated hidden dangers for our Party and country.

Xiao Pei:

Now, please allow me to quote some figures. We managed to achieve a "drop" and a "rise." The "drop" refers to the number of accusatory and prosecutable cases disciplinary authorities have accepted. Compared with 2015, the number of such cases in 2016 was down 17.5 percent. This is also the first time the number dropped since the 18th CPC National Congress. The "rise" refers to the number of Party members investigated and punished. In 2012, there were about 85 million Party members, and we handled about 155,000 disciplinary cases in which about 161,000 Party members were punished. At the end of 2016, the Party had a membership of more than 88 million, and we handled 413,000 disciplinary cases in which 415,000 Party members were punished. With the total number of Party members rising, we have punished more Party members, the number rising from a rate of 1.8 to 4.3 per 1,000 people.

In the vigorous anti-graft campaign in 2016, about 57,000 Party members made confessions to their Party organs. That's crushing momentum.

Therefore, we have achieved great success in running the Party with strict discipline, improving members' conduct and fighting corruption, thus increasing people's confidence and trust in the CPC Central Committeeas well as reliance on it and laying a solid political foundation for the Party's continued rule. That's a significant political achievement made by the 18th CPC Central Committee.


Reuters:

I have three questions. First, does China plan to establish an independent anti-corruption system that doesn't report to the CPC? Second, is China going to sign an extradition treaty with the U.S?Do you have a timetable for that? Third, why hasn't China formulated an anti-corruption law? Thank you.

Liu Jianchao:

In retrospect to our law-enforcement cooperation with foreign countries in the past few years, extradition treaties are a very important instrument in fighting corruption, especially in fugitive repatriation and asset recovery, which can be highlighted in the following two aspects. First, it provides legal basis for suspect pursual and handover. Second, it will deter the corrupt officials who attempt to evade legal punishment by fleeing to other countries. Therefore, the cooperation of law enforcement will be more effective with the signing of extradition treaties. So far, China has signed extradition treaties with 48 countries, including France, Spain and Italy, among others. As for the U.S. and other countries, China is willing to discuss such a treaty with them on the basis of mutual respect, equality, and shared benefit and mutual accommodation of each other's major concerns. In this way, China can better join hands with foreign countries to combat various cross-border crimes including corruption and make sure that not a single country will be used as a "safe haven" by corrupt elements or other criminals.

Wu Yuliang:

Leadership by the CPC is the essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, as well as its greatest strength. It's the consensus of the 1.3 billion Chinese people that the successful handling of China's affairs lies in the Party. It's also a consensus among the whole Party. Both supervision within the Party and on the government are carried out under the unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee. The 10th article in the newly released "Regulation on Supervision Within the Communist Party of China" stipulates that "the supervision within the Party is totally under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau." The aim of deepening reform of the national supervisory system is to strengthen the Party's leadership in combating corruption. Just now, Mr. Xiao has already answered the question regarding whether or not we are going to establish a centralized, unified, authoritative and efficient national supervisory system that will cover all the government employees who exercise public power. So, there will be no so-called independent supervisory organs beyond the Party's leadership.

I think your question about the independent supervisory organ stems from the thinking of separation and balance of powers. The Chinese people have confidence in our culture. Chinese culture enables us to have confidence in our chosen path, guiding theories and political system. It is the DNA and lies in the blood of the Chinese nation. Our culture is different from yours.

Establishing an independent supervisory organ (in China) is like cutting one's toes just to fit his shoes. Here I want to cite an ancient Chinese story. The tasty orange, grown in southern China, would turn sour once it is grown in the north. The leaves may look the same, but the fruits taste quite different, because the north is a different location with a different climate. Such similar questions (about Chinese systems and policies) have been raised from time to time. The reason is due to differences in the way of thinking. I don't think those who raise such questions have an understanding of traditional Chinese culture, nor the Chinese path, theories and system. I suggest them to read books about Chinese culture and stories.

Wu Yuliang:

As for your third question about the anti-corruption law, we have attached great importance to improving institutions and tried to learn from other countries. Like the vast ocean admitting all rivers that run into it, we have absorbed foreign experiences in spite of different national conditions. However, legislation takes time. It requires summarization and abstraction of practical experiences. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Central Committee has been unswervingly fighting corruption and attained noticeable effects while laying a foundation for legislation of the anti-corruption law. Now, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, we are pushing forward the reform of the supervisory system and carrying out pilot programs in the city of Beijing and provinces of Shanxi and Zhejiang. The national supervisory commission is the national level anti-corruption institution. The essence of formulating a law on national supervision is to promote legislation on national anti-corruption. In the future, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will conduct two reviews of the draft supervisory law before the law is finally published. Thank you.


China National Radio (CNR):

The seventh plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) proposed that the confessions of high-ranking corrupt officials should be issued and circulated within the units where their offences were committed. Besides, the communiqué released yesterday also put forward the idea that confessions should be made public as much as possible. I would like to ask: what the next step will be in making confessions open to the public?

Zhu Guoxian:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CCDI has edited the confessions of high-ranking Party officials gravely violating discipline and the laws. The approach fully reflects the consistent principle of our Party of "helping the people learn from past mistakes and avoid future ones, and curing the sickness to save the patient."

The confessions of corrupt officials were given at the cost of their own painful lessons. The idea of issuing and circulating the confessions of corrupt officials within the units where they committed their offences is to make the negative examples serve as a lesson in the democratic life meetings of leading groups during the campaign of "Two Studies, One Action" – namely "studying the Party Constitution and regulations and studying and implementing the spirit of a series of important speeches made by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and being a qualified Party member."

The approach is also to educate the wider public through highlighting the negative examples, and thus to effectively achieve the aim of rectification improvement. In the next step, we will open a special column on this topic in the CCDI's media outlet, and we will gradually make the confessions of corrupt officials open to the public before the 19th CPC National Congress. Thank you.

Today's ria novosti news agency (Russia):

By November 2016, China had hunted down a total of 2,442 fugitives in 81 countries and regions and reclaimed a total of 8.54 billion yuan (about US$1.23 billion). I would like to ask: what measures has the Chinese government taken to punish corrupt officials fleeing overseas? What do you think of the situation regarding the second round of the anti-corruption drive in 2017?

Liu Jianchao:

The numbers you mentioned just now were the numbers of corrupt officials we hunted down and the stolen money and property we managed to reclaim from 2014 to November 2016. Actually, from 2014 to the end of 2016, a total of 2,566 fugitives were hunted down in more than 70 countries, 37 of whom were on the list of the 100 "most wanted" persons. We also made considerable progress in the last month of 2016, so that the 8.54 billion yuan you mentioned just now has become 8.64 billion yuan. This is the latest situation in reclaiming stolen money and property.

The number of additional fugitives fleeing overseas has declined by a big margin year-on- year. The number reached 101 in 2014, dropping to 31 in 2015 and then 19 in 2016. So, it can be seen that reclaiming stolen money and property is a very important part in the anti-corruption drive, and it has played an important role in curbing the incidence and spread of corruption.

We have worked closely with law enforcement agencies in relevant countries, and a very important point is based on political will. Adapting an old saying, as long as there is the political will, there is a way in law. In this regard, I believe we will continue to deepen law enforcement cooperation with other countries in tackling corruption, so that more fugitives fleeing overseas can be brought to justice. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that China's hunting down corrupt officials and reclaiming the stolen money and property has always been in strict accordance with the law, and has been conducted strictly in accordance with legal procedures. Thank you.


 

Xinhua News Agency:

Someone called intra-Party supervision a self-conducted surgeries which is very difficult to go through. Therefore, my question is: Are the intra-Party regulations able to truly solve the conundrum? Thank you.

Xiao Pei:

The history of CPC has more than once proved the adage of Mr. Deng Xiaoping, who believed that our Party has huge self-remediation power every time we are troubled with mistakes that lead us in the wrong direction. Why? It is not because the CPC makes no mistakes but because we are never afraid to reckon our mistakes. When we are aware of them, we immediately correct them.

Among the overall supervision systems established to rule the Party and the country, intra-Party supervision has been prioritized among others, because when the intra-Party system loses its power, the other supervisions will undoubtedly become invalid. But we should not only rely on intra-Party supervision, but also on the scrutiny of our people so that we can combine the two different systems to ward off historical cycles. At the same time, intra-Party supervision should join in the multiple overseeing systems, including the democratic, social and individual supervisions as well as the monitoring and reporting of public opinions, in order to maintain the self-cleanliness, improvement, renovation and progress. Thank you.

Prensa Latina:

The Chinese government has carried out a campaign against top-level grafts and all kinds of crimes, including against the high-ranking officials who have violated the appropriate public use of resources and funds to alleviate poverty and fight environmental pollution. My question is: Will the government establish new initiatives concerning this issue? And I also noticed that since there are lots of officials in high ranks accused of corruptions, are the measures to correct them bringing them again to society once they complete their sentences or are the charges just punitive? Thank you.

Luo Dongchuan:

The punishment for the embezzlement of funds to alleviate poverty or improve environmental conditions has always been the highlight of the disciplinary inspections. In 2016, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) made plans to send reports on the embezzlement of poverty-alleviating funds in various forms to designated departments. The focus is on the misuse of relief supplies, pocketing poverty-alleviating funds, making preferential offers to family members and friends, and faking poverty reports to ask for financial support. We'll severely punish the community-level officials charged of dereliction, inaction and misconducts. In 2016, we imposed penalties on more than 390,000 Party members and community-level officials. In the past four years since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have punished 1.14 million community-level officials.

For your second question, I need to point out that the ultimate goal of our stringent punishments of the Party members is to clean governance while educating, warning and intimidating corrupt officials so as to educate all Party cadres. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party cadres who received punishments have been required to reckon and correct their blunders with the help of education, management and supervisions. Once they finish their sentences, the Party cadres can be offered educational and job opportunities stipulated by relevant legal provisions and policies to help them return to society as upright people who respect the law.


 

Macao Daily News:

The inspections by the central inspection teams of the 18th CPC Central Committee are about to cover all regions and central departments across the country, hence fully playing their role as a sword against corruption and other misconduct. So, how will this year's inspections be arranged? Thank you!

Wu Yuliang:

The central inspection teams are dispatched by the CPC Central Committee, not by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Under the resolute leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the central inspection teams of the 18th CPC Central Committee have completed 11 rounds of inspections, covering the Party organizations of 247 localities, government departments and enterprises. These inspections have totally covered all sub-national governments, key state-owned enterprises, central financial institutions and central and national agencies.

In addition, we have conducted a second round of inspections of 12 provincial (autonomous regional and municipal) governments, which is commonly referred to as "swinging around and firing another shot." These efforts have served as our sword against corruption as well as other misconduct. During the first half of the year, we will conduct inspections of centrally administered higher educational institutes while continuing with our "second round of inspections" of other provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to ensure total coverage within the current term of administration of the CPC Central Committee.

After we complete the total coverage, the leading group of the central inspection work will draw a comprehensive summary of experience of the inspections to improve relevant systems and put forward ideas and suggestions for our future work. Thank you!

China Daily:

As for my first question, several days ago the Party chief and mayor of Panzhihua City in Sichuan Province took gun shots by the director of the local land and resource bureau. Rumor has it that the bureau director was tipped off that he was going to be inspected by the Party's discipline inspection committee and therefore took revenge. I'd like to ask whether such a rumor is true.

As for my second question, since some corrupted officials are still at large in developed Western countries, what concrete plans will China come up with regarding its deepened international cooperation in law enforcement?

Zhu Guoxian:

I'm taking your first question. We learned that the Party's disciplinary inspection commission of Panzhihua, upon approval of the city's Party committee, had planned to probe Chen Zhongshu, the director of the city's land and resource bureau. Now, the police are investigating the case. If there are any developments, concerned government departments of Sichuan Province will publish them in a timely manner. Thank you!

Liu Jianchao:

As for the international cooperation, anticorruption has been an important issue for the global community and in global governance. The breeding and transnational spreading of corruption will pose a serious challenge to global development, economic growth and even global security. Therefore, you may have noticed that not only the UN system but also the G20, among other regional mechanisms, all treat anticorruption as a very important issue.

In the future, we will continue with our cooperation with other countries. We will strengthen cooperation and form mechanisms – bilateral ones and multilateral ones – for hunting fugitives and recovering their illegal property.


Beijing Youth Daily:

Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said in a speech at a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Convention (CPPCC) on December 1 that two officials had asked for leave due to department systematic corruption. Since then, rumors refer them to two former ministers of civil affairs: Li Liguo and Dou Yupei. I would like to know the current condition of the two ministers. Thanks.

Luo Dongchuan:

As the director of the Department of Case Review of the CCDI, I would like to answer your question. After the sixth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, Wang Qishan mentioned the case at a CPPCC meeting. Since the CPC published a new version of accountability regulation, Party officials must be made answerable for their neglect of duty. According to inspection and public reporting, the CCDI is conducting an investigation on the two officials now. As soon as the investigation is finished, they will be penalized for their violations according to the CPC discipline regulations. We will disclose relevant information to the public after the handling of the case. Thank you.

Wu Yuliang:

Cleaning up Party politics and anti-corruption will never succeed without the support, supervision and encourage of our media friends. Thank you for your concern and support for our work. Thank you!

Guo Weimin:

Thank you for the presence of all leaders of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the Ministry of Supervision. Thank you to all our friends from the press. Now the press conference ends.

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